Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- Refraining from undue indulgence, especially in the use of food and drink; characterized by moderation; abstemious.
- noun One who abstains or is abstinent; an abstainer.
- noun [capitalized] One of a sect which appeared in France and Spain in the third century.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- adjective Refraining from indulgence, especially from the indulgence of appetite; abstemious; continent; temperate.
- noun One who abstains.
- noun (Eccl. Hist.) One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3d century.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun usually capitalized, religion, historical One of a sect who appeared in France and Spain in the 3rd century, and believed in abstinence towards meat and sex.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a person who refrains from drinking intoxicating beverages
- adjective self-restraining; not indulging an appetite especially for food or drink
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Similarly, some very health-minded people will do the healthy thing and remain abstinent until marriage, then remain faithful to their spouses.
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Encouraging teens to be abstinent is a worthy (if impossible) goal, but not at the expense of leaving them unprepared to practice safe sex.
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Encouraging teens to be abstinent is a worthy (if impossible) goal, but not at the expense of leaving them unprepared to practice safe sex.
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Cognitive performance in long-term abstinent alcoholic individuals.
Psychology Today <a href="/blog/bloggers/susan-tapert" title="View 2009
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Presumably the abstinent are the best judges of the ratedness of abstinence, over or not.
"Abstinence allowed me to get rid of the garbage internally and externally." Ann Althouse 2009
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Presumably the abstinent are the best judges of the ratedness of abstinence, over or not.
"Abstinence allowed me to get rid of the garbage internally and externally." Ann Althouse 2009
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We don't want leaders who are willing to slap the public's desire -- support for comprehensive programs -- in the face, selling out to programs that will fund efforts to make us "pure" and "abstinent" -- and ultimately worse off -- until the age of 29!
Yvonne Fulbright and Danielle Cavallucci: Are you %&*#'ing Kidding Me?? 2008
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Elsewhere I have shown that even the requirement for church leaders to be "abstinent" (1 Tim 3: 2) finds its precedent in the Old Testament strict prohibition against the use of alcoholic beverages by the priests (Lev 10: 9) .32 The construction of the phrase without article "mias gunaikos andra - one-wife-man" emphasizes the moral character of the individual as being totally committed to one woman.
Recently Uploaded Slideshows Afryea 2010
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I bet he fucked his cello when he was "abstinent".
"Abstinence allowed me to get rid of the garbage internally and externally." Ann Althouse 2009
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"AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) says just to sever your ties with those people to be sure that you stay abstinent."
Alcohol intake of friends, family impact your drinking habits 2010
hernesheir commented on the word abstinent
I find it amusing that the term abstinent was used in telegraphic communications as shorthand for "will not be able to accommodate". --1906 US Railway Assn. Standard Cipher Code. Of course, "to accommodate" in these communications meant to find lodgings or seats on a train for the agent(s) or person(s) referred to.
January 19, 2013